@modernmisnaged – “This question has bothered me for YEARS, which is why I have scoured Tanach, Shas, Rambam, Tur, Beis Yosef, Rema, G’ra, Chaye Adam, Aruch Hashulchan, Mishna Berurah, and Igros Moshe, and I have come up with NOTHING!”
Of course not. Did you find “don’t double park,” or “thou shall not cross against the light?” Did you find Hachnosas Orchim or bikur cholim (anywhere but a breisa and in Sefer Ahavas Chesed? Vatranus (except in the mussar seforim)? To be an anav?
1) No mitzvos found explicitly in the Torah or the seforim of the monei ha’mitzvos, count midos as Torah obligations. Rav Chaim Vital explained why.
2) Productivity and profits for IBM plummeted after they dropped their white shirt, dark suit, striped tie dress code.
3) An experiment in NY schools requiring uniforms saw grades and good conduct increase.
4) The uniform of the Jew has always been different than that of the non-Jewish society in which they lived. Sometimes by choice, sometimes by decree (e.g. the yellow star, “crown” of fox tails, etc.). I prefer the former.
5) In this day and age where we have been exposed to and influenced by the be an individual, a non-conformist, anything which smells like forced compliance is avi avos ha’tumah. Unfortunately for those individuals, the fact is the true strength of the individual is directly related to his /her connection to a group.
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